View

Notice

Tools

Share

Notice of Application for State Water Quality Certification, Hammer Slough, Petersburg Medical Center, Excel Street Connection

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
Wastewater Discharge Authorization Program/§401 Certification
555 Cordova Street, Anchorage AK 99501-2617

Notice of Application for State Water Quality Certification

Public Notice (PN) Date: 
May 2, 2025

PN Expiration Date: 
June 2, 2025

PN Reference Number: 
POA-2023-00172 v1.0

Waterway: 
Hammer Slough

Any applicant for a federal license or permit to conduct an activity that might result in a discharge into waters of the United States, in accordance with Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), must also apply for and obtain certification from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that the discharge will comply with the CWA and the Alaska Water Quality Standards (18 AAC 70). The scope of certification is limited to the water quality-related impacts of the activity subject to the Federal license or permit (40 CFR 121.3, 18 AAC 15.180). 

Notice is hereby given that a request for a CWA §401 Water Quality Certification of a Department of the Army Permit application, Corps of Engineers’ PN Reference Number indicated above, has been received  for the discharge of dredged and/or fill materials into waters of the United States (WOTUS), including wetlands, as described below, and shown on the project figures/drawings. The public notice and related project figures/drawings are accessible from the DEC website at https://dec.alaska.gov/water/wastewater/.

To comment on the project or request a public hearing with respect to water quality, submit comments via (preferred method) DEC website https://dec.alaska.gov/commish/public-notices/ or email to the DEC email address: DEC-401Cert@alaska.gov with the subject line referencing Public Notice Reference Number: POA-2023-00172 v1.0 or on or before the public notice expiration date listed above.

Applicant: 
Petersburg Medical Center, Philip Hofstetter, 103 Fram St, Petersburg, AK 99833, 907-772-5723; phofstetter@PMC-HEALTH.ORG 

Agent: 
DOWL, Josh Grabel, 5015 Business Park Blvd #4000, Anchorage, AK 99503; 907-562-2000; jgrabel@dowl.com.

Project Name: 
Petersburg Medical Center Excel Street Connection

Dates of the proposed activity are planned to begin and end: 
07/01/2025 to 10/01/2026 

Location: 
The proposed activity is located within Section 27, T. 58 South, R. 79 East, Copper River Meridian, in Petersburg Borough, Alaska. 01006317. Project Site (Latitude, Longitude): 56.812634, -132.94331.

Purpose: 
The project purpose is to extend the road to connect Haugen Drive to Excel Street, for the routing of emergency vehicles and hospital visitors from downtown and north Petersburg. The water line connection would provide a loop to improve pressure and limit users affected by repairs or emergency shutoff of the water system.

Description of Proposed Work: 
The proposed Project would extend the access road from Haugen Drive to Excel Street. A water line would be buried in the fill material to loop for better utility service. The Excel Street Connection would be a two-lane access road with a pedestrian sidewalk on the west side of the access road. Peat would be removed from the Project footprint and replaced with structural fill.

The applicant proposes to discharge 6,267 cubic yards of structural fill into 0.32 acres of palustrine wetlands to create the additional emergency access route and water line access to the Petersburg Medical Center. 

Overburden generated by access route and water line construction would be hauled to an existing material site near the rock quarry. The work would start in the summer of 2025 and be completed in the fall of 2025.

The existing fill pad for the Petersburg Medical Center was verified on August 2, 2023, under the USACE Regional General Permit (RGP) – 07, Rural Development, for the discharge of 110,000 cubic yards of structural fill material into 4.96 acres of palustrine wetlands to construct a new two-story medical facility. That work was reverified on February 2, 2024, to reflect a shift of the project footprint with the same discharge volume and acreage impact. The new proposed emergency access route and water line are being reviewed cumulatively with the previous RGP 07 impacts to reflect the total impacts resulting from the Petersburg Medical Center actions.

Applicant Proposed Mitigation: 
The applicant proposes the following mitigation measures to avoid, minimize, and compensate for impacts to waters of the United States from activities involving discharges of dredged or fill material.

a. Avoidance: Avoidance: It is not practicable to build the proposed project in the uplands as the new hospital fill pad and access from Haugen Drive are surrounded by a large wetland complex with no availability for high traffic throughways from other side streets adjacent to the hospital.

b. Minimization: The Excel Street Connection would be the minimum width necessary to meet two-way traffic, pedestrian, and safety design standards. BMPs would be used during construction to limit sedimentation to nearby wetlands.

c. Mitigation: Credits would be purchased from a mitigation bank or in-lieu fee provider for the functions lost to wetlands from the project.

After reviewing the application, the Department will evaluate whether the activity will comply with applicable water quality requirements (any limitation, standard, or other requirement under sections 301, 302, 306, and 307 of the CWA, any Federal and state laws or regulations implementing those sections, and any other water quality-related requirement of state law). The Department may certify (or certify with conditions) with reasonable assurance the activity and any discharge that might result will comply with water quality requirements. The Department also may deny or waive certification.

The permit application and associated documents are available for review. To inquire about or request copies of the documents, contact dec-401cert@alaska.gov or call 907-269-6285. 

Disability Reasonable Accommodation Notice
The State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation, complies with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. If you are a person with a disability who may need special accommodation in order to participate in this public process, please contact ADA Coordinator Megan MacPherson at 907-269-7553, megan.macpherson@alaska.gov or TDD Relay Service 1 800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711 at least 3 days prior to the expiration/closure date of this public notice to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.

Attachments, History, Details

Revision History

Created 5/2/2025 2:13:47 PM by jrschlosser
Modified 5/2/2025 2:15:39 PM by jrschlosser
Modified 5/2/2025 2:17:21 PM by jrschlosser
Modified 5/2/2025 2:21:01 PM by jrschlosser

Details

Department: Environmental Conservation
Category: Public Notices
Sub-Category:
Location(s): Statewide
Project/Regulation #: POA-2023-00172 v1.0
 
Publish Date: 5/2/2025
Archive Date: 6/3/2025
 
Events/Deadlines: